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There
must be a couple of hundred thousand people still
weeping for the absence and claiming for a new recording
from greasers Social Distortion. I am not one of them
by any means, but at the time, I must admit that I did
enjoy their excellent self-titled 1990 release. I even
heard a few good rocking tunes of latter day albums but
my busy schedule getting my head bashed
in with heavier releases has prevented me from checking
them out.
After
listening to Crashbeat from Spain’s Muletrain I got the feeling
that I might just not have to listen to Social distortion ever
again. These muchachos are just as good. The energy is certainly
there, contained and compressed to unleash in less than
twenty-six minutes. Sure thing, some of these straight ahead
rockers and punked up rollers are so entrenched in their speedy
fits they forget to alter tempos every once in a while, if at
least for only one song, but what can you do? Crashbeat is a
solid rolling ball. It’s coming down the mountain and getting in
the way or attempting to stop it is beyond stupid.
Muletrain
hail from Madrid and have been together for eight years. That’s
enough time to make the skills of one rub onto the other
musicians. The songs are highly melodic, but distance the shitty
thought of radio pop punk from your mind. Far from that, Muletrain sound almost like bullies who have found a better way
to express themselves than through pure hardcore bashing and
windmill dancing.
As such,
Crashbeat is a lesson on how to twist and morph one riff and one
tempo onto thirteen easy-to-distinguish songs. Each loaded by
the burly voice of Mario. Hell, I ain’t surprised these punk
rockers share the stage with Moho and hold their own. The double
guitar attack is speedy, but also well-arranged and detailed. A
rock and roll flying solo in “God is…” and swift accents in each
tune take the tunes beyond, no, way beyond the average. It’s a
spirited record of the type of punk that American bands forgot
how to make about a decade ago.
Give these
dudes time to keep on brewing their sound. If they don’t soften
their skin or get jaded by being small Muletrain could come up
with some mighty records. In the meantime Crashbeat is enjoyable from beginning to end, and
for a change, you don’t have to feel like a pussy by listening
to punk rock with a melodic flare.
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